GRISELDA 113 



Serg. Nothing but water, my lord, which a soldier may call 

 nought, 



Marq. So you drank the wine we sent him ? 

 Serg. I will never let good wine spoil, my lord, for lack of a 

 dry throat. 



Marq. Go back to Sir Tancred. Say, we regret that our 

 good cheer should pall on him for lack of better company than 

 drunken soldiers, and that we therefore bid him to our own 

 table. Go, and bring him here. (Exit SERG. R.) The lad is 

 eighteen. If I cannot win his confidence before he knows I am 

 his father, constancy in hating me will seem to him a point of 

 honour. I like the boy. He meant to set Grisyld on a throne, 

 maugre me and all my men. That was folly but the folly of 

 a prince. Filomene seems venomous. She thinks me a devil, 

 and despises Grisyld. Her head was turned by young Count 

 Malatesta's flattery. She has seen the boy four times, and 

 believes that she could never love another man. Well, he shall 

 marry her. I wish him joy. (Enter SERG. R.) Where is Sir 

 Tancred ? 



Serg. My lord, Sir Tancred bade me say that, if it please 

 you, he prefers silence to your speech and hunger to your food. 

 Marq. It does not please me. Bring him with you. (Exit 

 SERG. R.) His indignation has the true antique Roman flavour. 

 Virtue is his goddess, and he saw that ancient lady smile on 

 him when he sent that message. Good old Virtue ! She is so 

 incompetent, so weak, that I feel bound to help the poor dame. 

 (Enter TANCRED and SERG.) He has no weapon ? 

 Serg. No, my lord. 



Marq. Leave us. (Exit SERG. R.) Your case, sir, is not so 

 gloomy as to warrant those black looks. You shall not be 

 hanged to-day, no, nor to-morrow. 

 Tanc. What matters what day ? 



Marq. What matters but the day, man ? I should take 

 hanging to be a speedy, peaceable kind of death good enough 

 for any man if it came at the right time, which for you is not 

 yet. Let this wine prove to you that life may be enjoyed, no 

 matter how near Death may lurk. 



Tanc. My life is forfeited, but I will not use wine to drown 

 thought ; nor will I pledge my gaoler. 



VOL. I. I 



